


Break Room

by qunimees (rqyh)



Series: Reaching for the Skies (YakuLev Week 2016) [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ehhhh, I dont even know how a restaurant works, M/M, Though if i made a restaurant this is how it would work, Working!AU, YakuLev week said AU and this is the first that came to mind, i dont even know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-07-26 10:10:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7570123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rqyh/pseuds/qunimees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Cut him some slack," Kuroo said, waving a hand. "It's only been three days. The guy's a seventy-two inch-tall giant made up of too-long legs and too-long arms. Just let him get used to the place, and he'll pay back those twelve thousand yen <em>easy</em>."</p><p>Yaku sighed. "Fine. But if he breaks one more plate, I <em>swear</em>—"</p><p>Yaku's sentence was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering somewhere behind them and a scream that could only belong to Lev.</p><p>Kuroo grinned as Yaku stood up from the table, face painted with absolute and utter anger.</p><p>"Go get 'em, Chief," he said, and sipped on Yaku's forgotten coffee.</p><p>-<br/>In which Yaku needs about a hundred cups of coffee a day, and Lev is why he needs it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break Room

**Author's Note:**

> Day Five: Sleep / Alternate Universe

IT WAS A normal day at Wagnaria family restaurant; the sun was shining, the birds were chirping... and a thousand plates were crashing down onto the floor as Lev bumped into another shelf in the kitchen.

" _Leeeeeevvvv_!" Yaku growled, hands up in the air in a "why" gesture as Lev yelped and visibly shuddered in the middle of the broken mess that was the floor.

"Sorry, Yaku-san!" Lev apologized, and bowed down to his waist, toppling over another stack of glasses in the process. " _Gah_!" Lev yelped, and tried to save the others from falling down into their impending doom, but only made things worse.

"Just—no—Lev— _stop moving, damn it_!" Yaku exclaimed, exasperated.

"Lev!" Inuoka suddenly appeared in the doorway. "We need another waiter in the firing line!"

If Lev tried to hide his relief at Inuoka's announcement, he was doing a pretty bad job.

"Ah, I'll be there!" Lev said, sneakily escaping Yaku's wrath like the sly bastard he was.

"Sorry, Chief," Inuoka sheepishly said, when he saw the look of absolute fury on Yaku's face. "Rush hour."

And he left the room without another word, leaving Yaku in the middle of a room full of broken glass and broken dreams.

It was not the first time that day that Yaku had groaned out of exasperation.

And it wouldn't be the last time either.

Yaku slammed his cup of coffee on the table in the break room, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Kuroo.

"Lev?" he asked.

"Lev," Yaku affirmed, grimly. He put a hand to his temple to try to ease the growing pain.

"What'd he do  _this_  time?"

"He accidentally elbowed a dish rack and broke about twenty plates. He slipped on dry tile, Kuroo.  _Dry_.  _Tile_."

Kuroo let out a dramatic sigh, smiling to himself. "Ah, Classic Lev."

"Why did we hire him again?"

"Because he knocked over a vase and now owes us twelve thousand yen."

"Right," Yaku groaned, slumping his shoulders and banging his head on the table. " _Right_."

Kuroo chuckled next to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "At least you don't have to watch over the kitchen staff like I do. Taketora's trying to find out what Fukunaga's favorite color is."

"What'd he do?" Yaku asked, already knowing this was gonna be good.

"He made Fukunaga choose between a banana and an apple, and Fukunaga just. Ate them. Both. At the same time." Kuroo burst out in laughter, and Yaku followed suit.

"You can never get anything out of him, can you?" Yaku said, laughing.

"No," Kuroo agreed, shaking his head.

"Well," Yaku said, once he calmed down, "nothing can compare to Lev, if you ask me."

Kuroo raised another eyebrow, a smirk on his lips.

"Sounds like you have taken a liking to this gentleman," he said in a poorly executed British accent.

"What? No! I didn't mean  _that_!" Yaku said a little too loudly, face reddening at the thought of it. "Seriously! It hasn't even been a week and he's broken twenty plates, twelve glasses, and a mixing bowl."

"A mixing bowl?"

"A  _mixing_  bowl!"

"Cut him some slack," Kuroo said, waving a hand and leaning back into his chair in the if-I-push-you-you're-entire-life-will-flash-before-your-eyes kind of way. "It's only been three days. The guy's a seventy-two inch-tall giant made up of too-long legs and too-long arms. Just let him get used to the place, and he'll pay back those twelve thousand yen _easy_."

"He slipped on dry tile," Yaku reminded him.

"Like I said: let him get used to the place. He's got enthusiasm and confidence. He's also obviously a people person, so he'll be useful in the battlefield."

"Since when did we start calling the dining area the battlefield?"

"I think Fukunaga started it. Wait," Kuroo said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think Fukunaga started it, too," Yaku said, then immediately frowned. "But how...?"

"I have no idea." Kuroo shook his head. "Anyway, just give Lev some time."

Yaku sighed. "Fine. But if he breaks one more plate, I _swear_ —"

Yaku's sentence was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering somewhere behind them and a scream that could only belong to Lev.

Kuroo grinned as Yaku stood up from the table, face painted with absolute and utter anger.

"Go get 'em, Chief," he said, and sipped on Yaku's forgotten coffee.

Looking for Lev, Yaku found the silver-haired beanstalk hunched over the break room table. He was scribbling something on a leather notebook, mouth occasionally quirking up when he wrote another word. Locks of hair fell over his face as he scribbled, and Lev tucked them back behind his hear, only to fall back over his face seconds later.

Yaku realized that he was staring and finally remembered to move his feet.

"What are you writing?" he asked, walking over to Lev and sitting down across him.

"Ah, Yaku-san!" Lev exclaimed, looking up and smiling widely like he was happy to see him there. (That wasn't true, of course. Not true at all.) "This is my journal!"

"A journal?" Yaku asked.

"Yup! I just started writing last week," he explained. "I've never had a journal before, but it's fun!"

"Huh," said Yaku, pressing the back of his hand to his cheek as he leaned on the table, "why'd you suddenly start?"

"Well, this is my first-ever job, so I wanted to remember every bit of it!" Lev exclaimed, smiling widely.

"This is your first job?" Yaku didn't know this.

"Yeah! I wanted to treasure the memories that come with this job, so I decided that a journal would be best. It's fun reading and re-reading past entries."

Yaku couldn't help but smile at that. For someone with such an intimidating first look, Lev was pretty adorable. Watching Lev write in his notebook with a tiny smile on his face was oddly peaceful. And comforting. It was a good transition from having to reprimand Lev every time Yaku saw him.

Speaking of...

"Lev?" Yaku asked in the sweetest voice possible.

"Hm?" Lev said, not looking up from his journal.

"Was the garbage bag full of broken glass I found in the dumpster a few minutes ago because of you?" he asked, making sure to bat his eyelashes.

Lev visibly flinched at that, and the action was so ridiculous that Yaku almost laughed; the entirety of the waiter's body went rigid and the smile on his face screamed  _Shit_.

"Those were a lot of plates, you know," Yaku said, voice still sickeningly sweet.

Lev looked at anywhere but Yaku, leaning away from the chief of staff as slowly as possible.

"Twelve thousand yen is a lot of money, you know," Yaku said. "I wonder how you'll pay it all back if you're just going to keep adding to your mountain of debt."

A beat of silence continued.

And then Lev flipped over the table and practically flew out of the break room.

"Lev, come  _back_  here!" Yaku yelled, already chasing after the waiter.

"No!" Lev shouted back, a few meters away from him. In a small restaurant like this, it was practically a death wish to run around the few rooms they had, but Yaku did it anyway.

"Lev, you still have work to do!" Yaku ran around a corner and found himself in the kitchen.

For once, Yaku was grateful for his lack of height. While Lev had long legs, Yaku could maneuver his way around things that Lev would've already bumped into by now.

Kuroo, Taketora, and Fukunaga all turned their heads to the scene being laid out before them. Their head chef had that trademark shit-eating grin on him as soon as he saw who it was making chaos. Yaku ignored Kuroo's face as well as his own blushing one.

"Get  _back_  here!" Yaku ran towards Lev, and would have grabbed him if Lev hadn't dodged at the last moment and bolted the other way. Curse whoever designed this stupid kitchen and placed the kitchen counters this way.

"No!" Lev protested, running over to another table. "You're gonna kick me again!"

"I'm not gonna  _kick_  you!" Yaku yelled, but literally, everyone in the room knew that that was a lie. He ran past Fukunaga, who helpfully lifted his plate of— _what is that, hash?_ —and Yaku headed for Lev, who was already running towards the door.

"You do it every time!" Lev yelled back, and suddenly Yaku's frustration and exasperation diminished, because at that moment, Yaku saw Lev smiling as he ran.  _Smiling_.

And then Yaku was smiling too, even as he chased after Lev, and even as Lev bumped into another shelf and sent even more plates crashing down. He couldn't help the bubble of laughter that came out of him as he finally caught Lev, and he sure didn't miss the smile that spread across Lev's face when he did.

Lev was peaceful and chaotic, and Yaku found himself minding neither.

Yaku didn't imagine that he would be spending the next two days (and possibly the entire week) bedridden and sweaty all over.

He felt like utter shit, staring up at the blank ceiling. He felt disgusting, and absolutely horrible. The only thing that made it worse was the actual reason why he got sick in the first place.

 _Lev_ , he thought, not for the first time.

It truly was a miracle for someone to fuck up so much in such a small time-frame of seven days. The waiter had tripped over his own shoes and sent a bucket full of soapy water flying over to where Yaku was unfortunately awaiting his fate. Now Yaku was lying down in his bed with twenty-seven percent of hell's heat trapped beneath his blanket and it was all Lev's fault.

But if Yaku were being honest, the reason for his bitter mood wasn't actually because of Lev, but because he absolutely  _hated_  his apartment.

It wasn't like the place was a shabby run-down piece of shit that only trolls would be satisfied living in; it was the silence that was disconcerting. Unsettling.

Yaku wanted to get away from his empty home immediately; it was why he opted to get that job, after all—so he could avoid being reminded how much of a lonely and miserable person he really was.

But Yaku couldn't very well go to work with that stupid fever of his, now could he?

So maybe Yaku was a bit angry at Lev, but he couldn't really blame him. The kid was so clumsy it was ridiculous, and Kuroo had told Yaku to be more patient with hi—

"A- _choo_!" Yaku sneezed, shivering from head to toe. He pulled his comforter over his body.

Yes... Kuroo  _had_  told Yaku to be patient with Lev, didn't he?

Damn it.

Suddenly, Yaku's phone buzzed and he begrudgingly reached over to check which godforsaken Facebook notification from Taketora it was this time.

"Why this," Yaku muttered, squinting up at his phone in disgust.

It was just an alarm that read _BUY ACTUAL FOOD NOW. LIKE RIGHT NOW_. Yaku vaguely remembered their head chef making that alarm about a week ago when Kuroo told him about the benefits of eating organic food and buying from the farmer's market blah blah blah.

Yaku groaned. He had promised Kuroo that he would cut down on the instant ramen and pizza (because apparently vegetable pizza didn't count as "healthy food") and cook at home at least twice the following week (which was now  _this_  week, he supposed.)

With great effort, Yaku pulled the covers away from his dying body and limped over to a drawer across his bed. He extracted a cloth mask with the open mouth of a lion cartoon printed on front (it was his favorite mask, okay) (yes, he had favorite masks) and wore it, making sure that no demon would come out of his mouth and nose and try to possess any passerby that came his way.

Grabbing his wallet and a prayer to whatever supernatural being there was above him that he wouldn't die out there in the wild, Yaku walked over to his front door, not caring that he was still in his pajamas.

Before he went out, Yaku noticed a folded piece of paper near to the bottom of the door.

"What's this," Yaku murmured, head a bit groggy as he crouched down to get the stationary so strategically placed by the author that it wouldn't make any sense for him not to notice it at all.

When Yaku read the words _TO YAKU-SAN!!!_ hand-written with surprisingly clean handwriting, he already knew who wrote them.

Yaku almost laughed. How the hell did Lev even get Yaku's address?

He opened the letter out of curiosity.

> _To Yaku-san:_
> 
> _Do not be alarmed!! I asked Kuroo-san where your house was._

 Oh.

> _First things first: SORRY!! I can be very clumsy sometimes_

'Sometimes?'

> _First things first: SORRY!! I can be very clumsy sometimes_ _and that got you a cold + fever. So I'm very sorry._
> 
> _But!! Dont you worry, okay!? I'm gonna do my very best now on! No more broken plates and no more sick Yaku-sans!!_
> 
> _(Oh, and Kuroo-san says today's the Promised Day of your trip to the farmer's market. Taketora-san says hi. Fukunaga-san waved a hand. Kenma-san's in his office, but I'm sure he's waving a hand also.)_
> 
> _Get better okay!? I'm worried... Don't die!!_
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Haiba Lev_

No one could've seen it then because of the mask that covered his face, but as he stared at the small doodle of a lion drawn next to Lev's name, Yaku couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his aching face.

Fortunately, Yaku only had to stay in that godforsaken apartment for one more day before the heavens finally relieved him of his deadly sickness.

Yaku only just recovered from his sickness the day he came back to work, so the place was already packed when he got there.

His coworkers greeted him as soon as they saw him walk in from the back room, in spite of the rush hour (it was Saturday, also known as the day of the devil in their cookbook), but a certain waiter had yet to be seen in Yaku's line of view.

Although, Inuoka's sudden rush to the changing room was about to change that.

"Chief!" he exclaimed, much to Yaku's surprise, as he was still half-undressed. "You gotta see this! It's Lev."

For the past few weeks, the sentence  _It's Lev_  had become sort of an omen in Yaku's life, and so he immediately asked,

"Did Lev break another mixing bowl?" Yaku walked out of the changing room as he buttoned up his uniform, already headed towards the cleaning closet.

"No, it's not that," Inuoka clarified.

"Oh?" Yaku said, shifting his direction from the cleaning closet to the dining area (or battlefield, firing line, whatever.) "Then what is it?"

Inuoka's grin was surprising to say the least.

"Just watch, Chief."

They stood behind the counter, along with the other on-break employees who gawked at the situation in front of them. Yaku joined them.

"Here's your order, Maya-chan!" Lev said to a little girl bouncing in her seat as he slid three plates onto the table effortlessly.

"Thank you, Lev-nii!" replied the little girl with a big smile, and her parents followed suit.

"Always happy to be of service!" Lev happily replied with a bright smile, before turning to another table, whipping out a notepad to get the order of a couple.

"Good morning, Sanada-san and Mahiru-san," greeted Lev with another one of his bright smiles. "I see you've recently got engaged."

The two blushed at the same time, the man's hand over the woman's.

"Yes, Lev-kun," Mahiru giggled. "Taichi proposed to me yesterday."

"Congratulations to the both of you! I'm sure you're going to have a wonderful time living together," Lev said, earning himself two charmed smiles from the couple in front of him. He got their order—two croquettes and an apple pie parfait—and walked on.

Two hands from separate tables were raised, calling for Lev—

"T-bone steak for Chihiro-san, and three servings of omurice for Hisashi-sensei, right?" Lev asked, walking past the two tables and scribbling on his notepad. The two customers put their hands down.

"Lev!" someone called from across the room. "Another burger and fries, please!"

"Yes, Satoshi-san!" Lev called, not even looking back at the customer on his way to the serving hatch.

Yaku was astonished.

"Did Lev memorize the names of our customers?" he asked to no one in particular. " _And_  their usuals?"

"Yes," Inuoka affirmed, an amused smile on his face. "Lev finished his training about the time when you left, and he's been working like this ever since.

"It's been rush hour every day since Lev got into the firing line, officially. The customers love him," Inuoka added.

"I can see that," Yaku muttered, glancing over at the silver-haired waiter now headed their way.

When Lev caught sight of Yaku, his face lit up like a neon light in one of those Western countries.

"Yaku-san! Welcome back!" Lev exclaimed, smiling so wide it looked like his would rip apart. "Did you get my letter?"

"Yeah, I did," Yaku coughed. "Thanks."

"Any time!" Lev smiled one more time before heading over to the serving hatch and reciting the customers' orders and matching table numbers without even looking at his notebook.

"You look like you want to say something, Chief," Inuoka pointed out suddenly, and Yaku's face burned red. "Are you surprised that Lev's doing so well?"

"Y-yeah, actually." Yaku could almost hear the voice in his head (which sounded an awful lot like Kuroo) telling him _I told you so-ho-ho-ho_  in the most annoying tone possible.

The sound of a bell ringing made both Yaku and Inuoka turn to the door, where a new customer was nervously walking in.

"Ah, I'll get it," said Inuoka, and left to cater the customer.

Yaku watched Inuoka as he guided the customer to a table by the window—the last table not occupied by the customers. Wagnaria had had its fair share of rush hours, but even then, the entire restaurant still had a few spare tables empty.

Yaku turned to Lev, who was patiently waiting for the orders to be finished cooking with a small smile on his face, and without thinking, walked up to him, reached up, and patted his head.

Lev was shocked, to say the least.

"G... good job," Yaku said, already feeling a wave of embarrassment washing over him, seventy percent of which was induced by Kuroo looking over at the situation from the kitchen, probably— _obviously_  with a grin and a teasing on his lips just waiting to be said.

"E-eh?" Lev wasn't any better.

"I said, 'Good job,'" Yaku repeated. "You're pretty good with the customers."

Yaku watched as Lev practically glowed with immense joy at Yaku's words, a wide smile spreading across his face.

Ten minutes later, Lev would bump into a shelf full of ceramic bowls and break over a third of its contents, but it wouldn't change the fact that Yaku had felt the same joy just looking at Lev's face.

When Yaku walked into the break room to get a cup of coffee, he wasn't surprised to see Kuroo there seducing their manager with about a hundred apple pie parfaits.

"Is it good?" Kuroo asked, a small smile on his face as he stared at Kenma with fond eyes. It was like watching a mother feed her child.

Their manager nodded in reply, finishing his— _three... six... nine..._ —twelfth glass of dessert. Yaku heard Kenma's stomach growl even after all that, and the pudding head frowned.

"Want more?" Kuroo asked, already standing up.

"Yeah," Kenma replied, looking up and hopeful.

Kuroo turned right then to where Yaku was leaning on the wall with a smirk on his face, and immediately turned beet red.

"Shut up," Kuroo said, covering his red face as he went to the kitchen to go get another parfait.

Yaku breathed out a laugh, walking over to the coffee machine and grabbing a Styrofoam cup.

"You know he's hitting on you, right?" Yaku said, pressing a button on the machine and filling his cup with hot water.

"I know," said Kenma, and Yaku nearly burned himself from knocking his cup over. He jerked his head to look at Kenma, and half-shouted a "What?"

"Why do you think I let him use up most of our ingredients?" He shrugged.

Before Yaku could reply, Kuroo walked back in the break room with two new apple pie parfaits in each hand like he never even left in the first place.

(Which was oddly quick, even for him. It was as if Kuroo had ten other parfaits pre-made on one of the tables in the kitchen.)

(That wasn't true, of course. There were only eleven parfaits.)

"What are we talking about?" Kuroo asked, placing the two desserts on the table.

Yaku exchanged a knowing glance with Kenma before turning back.

"Nothing," they both said, and ignored Kuroo's looks of confusion.

The next weeks found Yaku praising Lev at different occasions whenever he felt it was needed.

He couldn’t help it—every time Yaku told Lev that he had only broken one plate that hour, or told him that he only slipped on wet tile and not dry tile that day, the waiter would have the same blushing, beaming, blooming face on him as a reaction.

Besides, Lev actually was doing a good job. Some of the customers who only went to Wagnaria once or twice a month had started to come there weekly - daily even. All just so they could get waitered by Lev, who was always ready to give them a brighter smile every time.

(It was a bit comical, actually—they treated Wagnaria like it was some half-Russian-centric butler-maid café when really it was just an old family restaurant located in practically the middle of nowhere.)

Lev had also limited his casualties to once a day, and he hadn't even tripped once—

There came a loud crash from the other room, followed by a yell.

— _twice_  that day!

So yes, Yaku was a bit proud of Lev's progress and of the boy himself. Kuroo was (Yaku couldn't believe he was saying this) right; Lev  _did_  become an asset to the restaurant.

Maybe it was the letter—Yaku didn't know—but it made Yaku happy to know that Lev was improving, and that Lev was working hard, even if he did slip up a few times, both literally and figuratively.

And, well, Yaku didn't want to admit it, but seeing Lev smile whenever he would praise made Yaku even happier.

While it may had seemed like Yaku was thoroughly invested in making sure the entire cutlery was polished enough to see the whole universe in them, the chief of staff was actually trying to get a glimpse of whatever Lev was writing in his journal.

Lev had made it a habit to write wherever the hell he wanted, and although he made sure (well, tried anyway) to write as discreetly as possible, literally every person of staff in Wagnaria had been able to get a glimpse of whatever it was he was writing. Everyone except Yaku, that is.

Now Yaku wouldn't usually do something like this. He always respected other people's privacy and minded his own business most of the time. But the thing was that as soon as someone like Taketora or even Fukunaga read a passage from Lev's journal, they would give him a cat-that-caught-the-canary look.

Did they  _have_  to gloat about being able to read Lev's journal every single time? It was like a goddamned challenge to them. Or competition. They were basically bragging about invading their fellow coworker's privacy!

Then again, Yaku didn't really have a right to say all that, since he was doing exactly the same.

Lev was leaning on the wall below the serving hatch, practically inviting the cooks to look at his journal.

Not for the first time, Yaku cursed his lack of height. If he were  _just_ a little taller (or, you know, like two feet taller) he'd be able to finally look at Lev's journal.

For now, though, the one looking behind Lev's shoulder and leaning over the serving hatch was Kuroo, who had one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips.

Lev was so oblivious to Kuroo's shamelessnes it was ridiculous. Kuroo would have probably been able to read the entire journal entry, if he hadn't spoken up just then.

"You've got really nice handwriting," he said.

Lev nearly screamed at the sound of Kuroo's voice behind him and dropped his journal to the floor.

(Yes, Yaku was tempted to get it.)

(But he didn't.)

(Why? Because he was a fucking  _idiot_ that's why.)

"Kuroo-san!" Lev exclaimed. "You were reading!?"

"Yeah. And it seems to me that you've got a bit of a crush on somebody," Kuroo said, wagging his eyebrows.

Lev immediately turned beet red and started spluttering incoherent sentences.

Yaku sighed. Well, there went all his chances to see Lev's apparently good handwriting.

"Kuroo, stop teasing Lev," he scolded.

If it was possible, Lev turned an even deeper shade of red. Kuroo looked like he had no idea of what Yaku was talking about.

"Get back to work, both of you," Yaku ordered, hands on his hips.

"Yes, Yaku-san!" Lev picked up his journal and immediately rushed out of there, almost toppling over another shelf in the process.

Yaku walked over to the serving hatch and glared up at Kuroo. Kuroo grinned.

"Wanna know who he has a crush on?" he said.

"No. I'm not a Peeping Tom like everyone in this restaurant."

Kuroo raised an eyebrow. "You were trying, though."

Yaku glared at him once more before blushing and going back to his station.

"Shut up."

Lev came up to Yaku one day in the break room to ask him a Very Important Question.

"Hey, Yaku-san?" he asked, plopping down next to Yaku, who currently had a cup of coffee in his hand. (God knows he needed it.)

"What is it?" he said before taking a sip.

"Does Kuroo-san have a crush on anyone?"

Yaku promptly spat out his coffee and had to be hit on the back by Lev repeatedly.

"Lev! Stop hitting m— _I'm fine_!" Yaku had to physically push Lev away with great effort. Who knew that two meters of limbs would be so hard to handle?

"Sorry, Yaku-san," Lev apologized.

"Anyway," Yaku said, rubbing the back of his neck, "you were asking if Kuroo had a crush?"

"That's right."

"May I ask why?"

Lev blushed bright red.

"U-um, I just..." He looked down. "I wanted to tell him something."

_Ah. So that's what it was._

"Well," Yaku started, a bit awkwardly so. What was he supposed to do in this situation? "Sorry, but Kuroo already likes someone."

"The manager?" Lev asked at the same time Yaku said, "The manager, actually."

Yaku stared at Lev. "Wait, you already knew?"

Lev smiled, a bit sheepish. He rubbed the back of his neck. "It is kind of obvious. I mean, the way he looks at Kenma-san... It's pretty envious."

If there was an emotion for the expression  _awwww_ , then Yaku felt it right then. But what could he do? He wasn't the comforting type of guy. He didn't know how to sugarcoat things. He didn't know how to handle things like this. What was he going do—make up a playlist to heal broken and lonely hearts?

Yaku was actually considering doing just that and already adding songs in his mind, when Lev stood up and said,

"Thanks for telling me, Yaku-san! I'll get back to work." And he left.

Yaku found himself staring at Lev's figure go away, feeling a bit hurt for Lev. After all, the kid did just get his heart broken. And he hadn't even confessed yet.

When Lev finally left Yaku's line of vision, Yaku furrowed his eyebrows in confusion because he'd never liked someone before. Hell, he'd never even been attracted to anyone before.

So how on  _earth_  did he understand the way Lev was feeling?

Afternoon the next week found Yaku staring at Taketora crouching on the floor and peeking from out the back door in the most suspicious way possible.

"What are you doing?" Yaku asked, and Taketora screamed, losing his balance and falling to the floor.

"Yaku-san!" Taketora shouted, and Yaku had to scrunch his nose up because hearing his name uttered like that with a different voice and coming from a less-than-two-meter body was just weird.

"What are you doing?" Yaku asked again. "Your break's over."

"Sorry, Yaku-san." Again.  _Weird_. "I was spying on Fukunaga," Taketora answered, standing up and dusting himself off.

Yaku raised an eyebrow. "Spying on him? Why?"

"You know why," Taketora said, and then gestured for Yaku to follow his lead and peek his head out the back door. Yaku did so, and saw Fukunaga standing next to the dumpster out back with a phone to his ear.

"He's just so secretive!" Taketora said in a hushed tone. "He never talks and no one knows anything about him!"

"So you're trying to get something from him by watching him talk to someone on the phone?" Yaku asked.

"Exactly! Except he hasn't said a word since he went out!" Taketora said.

Looking closer, Yaku saw what Taketora meant. Fukunaga said nothing to whoever it was on the phone, and only shook his head or nodded. That obviously made no sense whatsoever, but there it was, right in front of Yaku.

"I've been spying on him for weeks already and I still didn't get anything," Taketora grumbled.

"We know that he has a phone," said Yaku.

"Yeah, but that hardly matters.  _Actually_ ," Taketora said, eyes lighting up but then immediately dimming back down, "nah."

A few minutes later, Fukunaga was still talking (?) on the phone, and it was that moment that Taketora lost it.

"That's it!" Taketora yelled, and ran out and into the back of the restaurant, heading for Fukunaga.

"Take—" Yaku started, but he was too late.

"I am  _sick_  of not knowing anything about you!" Taketora yelled. Fukunaga just stared at him those wide eyes of his, putting the phone down.

"We're  _coworkers_!" Taketora continued. "I should at the very least know something  _other_  than your name! Like your birthday! Or your favorite color! Or why you became a cook! Or if you have siblings! Or—"

Taketora's sentence was interrupted by Fukunaga pressing a quick kiss onto his lips.

Well.

Yaku didn't know what he expected but that definitely wasn't it.

Taketora recoiled, covering up his mouth with a hand and blushing bright red.

"I— _wha_?" Taketora spluttered, very much taken aback from what just happened.

Fukunaga just shrugged and walked past Taketora and back into the restaurant, giving Yaku a small nod along the way.

Even when Fukunaga already went back into the kitchen, Taketora was still standing next to the dumpster. It was still his shift, but Yaku would let him have a few minutes.

It was only brief, but when Fukunaga put down his phone to talk to Taketora, Yaku saw that his phone wasn't even on.

One day, Yaku sat down next to Kuroo in the break room with a grim expression on his face.

"Lev?" Kuroo asked, a smirk already forming on his lips.

"No," Yaku said. "Well, yes. A bit. Yeah."

Kuroo stared at him.

"O...kay?" he said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Out with it, then." He put his cup of coffee to his lips.

"I think Lev has a crush on you," Yaku blurted out and Kuroo spat out his coffee, not unlike the way Yaku did when Lev asked him if Kuroo had a crush on someone.

(They should really stop doing that.)

"What the hell?" Kuroo said, looking at Yaku like he just told him that he was sexually attracted to owls.

(If anything it would be cats, Kuroo would say, if that were the case.)

"You think that Lev— _Lev_ —has a crush on _me_?" Kuroo asked, incredulous.

"I—yes?" Yaku furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't it obvious?"

"You're the only one here who thinks that!" Kuroo put his hands up in the air in an I'm-done gesture. "How dense can you get?"

" _I'm_  not the one who still doesn't know that the person they've been hitting on has been letting them use up all of the kitchen stock because they're waiting for the day that they finally get asked out!"

"Wait, what? Really?" Kuroo asked, taking a figurative step back and looking pleasantly surprised at this new information.

"Please don't tell Kenma I told you that," Yaku muttered.

"We'll get back to it.  _Anyway_ ," Kuroo said, pointing a finger at Yaku, "you really need to get your eyes checked if you think I'm the one Lev has a crush on."

"Who else could it  _be_?" This was seriously starting to irritate Yaku. "He blushed like crazy when he found out you read his journal. And the other day he asked me if you liked anyone. How is it  _not_  you?"

"Because it's  _not_  me!" Kuroo exclaimed, exasperated. "Who's the person he hangs out with the most in this restaurant? Who's the person he greets first when he arrives? Who's the person he keeps asking for approval from?"

Yaku just looked at Kuroo confused, shaking his head slightly because he had no idea who he was talking about.

"Oh my  _god_!" Kuroo stood up from the table. "I'm done. I am  _done_. Have fun figuring this out on your own."

In all honesty, Yaku thought as Kuroo left the break room in the middle of his break, he actually did have an answer to that, but it just wouldn't make any sense. It was just impossible that two people would somehow like each other at the same time, after all.

Wait what?

Not for the first time, Yaku watched Lev as he waitered customers in the battlefield that was the dining area. It was like he hadn't just slipped on an ice cube five minutes ago.

"What would you like to order, sir?" Lev asked, white teeth showing as he smiled brightly.

The guy he was waitering then leaned a bit forward on the table, towards Lev, and said, "Can I order... you?"

Both Lev's and Yaku's eyes widened at that, the former's face reddening in embarrassment and the latter's face reddening in... something else.

"I-I'm sorry?" Lev asked, obviously flustered.

The guy chuckled and Yaku decided that this guy was probably an asshole. Or maybe he just didn't like him. Either way, Yaku walked over to the firing line and said,

"I'll take over from here, Lev."

"Y-Yaku-san?" Lev asked, looking confused.

"Hey, what the hell, dude?" said the customer, looking a bit annoyed.

"No flirting with the staff," Yaku said, simply and showed the badge on his shirt that told him that he was in charge. He turned to Lev. "You can go now."

Lev stared at Yaku for a bit before smiling small and nodding. He whispered a small, "Thank you, Yaku-san," before leaving the scene.

Yaku grabbed his notebook from his belt and turned back to the customer before him, doing little to hide the smile growing on his face.

"What would you like to order, sir?"

Yaku watched as Shibayama visibly shook, serving tray in hand, one step away from the firing line. The waiter had taken about five deep breaths since Taketora had given the dish to him, and it looked like the entire restaurant, customers and all, were holding their breaths to see what Shibayama would do.

"I can do this... I can do this," Shibayama muttered under his breath, and Yaku could practically hear everyone in the restaurant suck in their breath. The girl he was supposed to be serving gave him two thumbs-up and a determined expression.

"I... I... I can't do it," Shibayama whimpered and turned away. The entire restaurant slumped their shoulders and sighed, turning back to whatever they were doing.

"Sorry, Chief," Shibayama apologized, walking over to Yaku. "I think I'll just stick to wiping the tables and polishing today."

"That's fine," Yaku assured him, patting his head. "At least you were able to serve to that family earlier." Shibayama nodded, looking down. Yaku turned to the other waiter. "Inuoka?"

"Yes, Chief!" Inuoka cheerily said, and took the serving tray from Shibayama's hands. "Don't worry, Yuuki! You'll get there in no time." And he pressed a small kiss onto his cheek and sped away into the firing line.

Shibayama was a blushing mess after that, and Yaku tried with great effort not to laugh at how cute his coworkers were.

"It's been a week, huh?" he asked, smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah..." Shibayama said, a shy smile on his face as he looked down.

"You were the one who confessed, right? That was pretty brave of you."

"Lev told me I had to tell Inuoka-san, or I'd lose him to someone else," Shibayama said, nodding. "He helped a lot."

Yaku raised an eyebrow. "He said that?"

"Yeah." Shibayama glanced at the silver-haired boy, who was leaning over the serving hatch. "He told me he got that advice from Kuroo-san."

"He  _did_?" Yaku asked again.

Shibayama breathed a laugh at Yaku's tone. "Yes. He's been asking Kuroo-san for all sorts of relationship advice nowadays."

For some reason, Yaku felt his heart ache somewhere in his chest and he couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice when he asked, "Lev's in a relationship?"

Shibayama looked at him then, and then hid a smile behind his hand.

"No, of course not," he giggled. "Wouldn't you like to know, Chief."

Yaku definitely did  _not_  blush at that.

"I'm still your higher-up, you know," Yaku slightly scolded him.

"Yes, yes," said Shibayama, though still smiling. "Don't worry, Chief. Everyone knows that Lev likes you, so you don't have to be troubled."

"Wh-whoever said I liked Lev?" Yaku asked, a bit too nervous for his liking.

"No one said that, Chief," Shibayama said, smiling a knowing smile. "No one has to."

Yaku wasn't one for slacking or being idle at work, but here he was, standing at the cashier podium with his head in the clouds and his face a furnace. The embarrassing part of this situation was the actual reason why he was so distracted in the first place.

 _Lev_ , Yaku thought, not for the first time. He had lost count of the amount of times the silver-haired waiter's name had made an appearance in his daily thoughts. It was a bit disconcerting, but also a bit... exciting, giddy, happy. Yaku found himself smiling at the mere thought of Lev, found himself wanting to praise him just to see him smile, found himself wanting to know more and more and more and more about him.

And here he was, standing at the cashier podium with his head in the clouds and his face a furnace as he stared at Lev.

Lev, with his legs and arms crossed as he leaned forward with his entire head practically in the kitchen.

Lev, with his long eyelashes making it look like heaven itself sent him.

Lev, with the mole at the corner of his right eye that only appeared when he blinked ever so slowly.

Beautiful, mesmerizing Lev. Peaceful, chaotic Lev. Clumsy, determined Lev.

Yaku liked Lev. He really did.

The staff of the restaurant gathered one day in Kenma's office to eat multiple variations of packaged diabetes (as Kuroo would call them) that Kai had brought over from Tokyo.

He was the owner of Wagnaria and other businesses (which included convenience stores, malls, and a takoyaki stand somewhere in Osaka) all over Japan, so he wasn't usually around. This time, however, he had decided to go visit the family restaurant as he had been in the area for another business meeting.

"Seriously, Kai, when do you ever get rest?" Yaku asked, popping another piece of chocolate in his mouth and making Kuroo visibly grimace. (He was enjoying it, yes.)

"Whenever I get home," Kai answered, chuckling. "Having so many businesses is tiring, yes. But it's fun. It's like having different families from all over the country."

"There he goes, with his 'friendship values' and 'sappy memories' thing," Kuroo said to Yaku, and the chief of staff laughed. Kai laughed with them.

"It  _has_  been a long time since I've visited this place, hm?" Kai said, looking at his surroundings. Taketora and Inuoka were having a competition to see who could eat the most marshmallows. Fukunaga and Shibayama were in the corner playing... house _...?_ With the chocolate rabbits...? Hm. Kenma was at his desk, eating his fifth glass of apple pie parfait, and  _still_  looking hungry. "May I just ask... is Yamamoto in a relationship with _Fukunaga_?"

" _Oh_  yeah, you missed a  _lot_ ," said Kuroo, grinning. "It's a long story, but all you need to know is that Yamamoto's going out with Fukunaga, Shibayama's going out with Inuoka—"

"Kuroo's on his way to ask Kenma out," interjected Yaku, and made sure to remember the way their manager's head perked up after he said it.

"And Yaku's got a crush on the new guy," Kuroo finished.

"I do  _not_."

"Yes, you do."

"Yes, I do," Yaku grumbled, resentfully.

"Oh, who is this 'new guy'?" Kai asked, looking around and interested.

"His name is Lev. Waiter. Good with the customers. Gray hair. Freakishly ta—Actually, you know what? Where  _is_ Lev?" Kuroo asked, looking around. When he couldn't find him, he turned to Yaku.

"What did you do to him," he deadpanned.

"Nothing," Yaku said, eyes furrowed in confusion at Kuroo. He looked around, and yep, Lev wasn't at Kenma's office at all. He frowned.

"I'll go look for him," he finally said, already turning around.

"Go get 'im, Chief," said Kuroo, grinning that trademark grin of his.

It didn't really take that long to find Lev as the waiter was sleeping in the break room, his arms folded and eyes closed. His cheeks were pushed up and his lips came out in a sort-of pout, and it was the most adorable thing Yaku had ever seen.

Yaku walked over slowly to the sleeping lion on the table. He watched as Lev's shoulders shifted up and down, timed with his breathing. He settled down on the chair across him, elbows propped up and cheeks pushed up by the knuckles.

"You're awful," said Yaku, almost whispering. He didn't even want to wake him up now. "Looking like this and making me feel like mush on the inside. I'm supposed to be the calm, collected one in this, damn it."

He glanced down at the table, and saw Lev's pen and journal open in front of him. Yaku would've left it alone—he still hadn't forgotten the way Fukunaga just stared at him with unblinking eyes after taking a peek at Lev's notebook—if he hadn't seen his own name in one of the entries.

Or, well,  _all_  of them.

Yaku could practically hear Lev's voice in his writing, flipping through page after page, finding his name written on every one of them.

 

> _First day on the job!! So excited!! A person named Yaku-san is going to give me a briefing. He's very short but also very cute. Hopefully I can start waitering officially soon!!_

 

> _OMG I broke about twenty plates this week!! Stupid!! Long!! ARMS!! Yaku-san kept yelling at me... I have to thank Inuoka for helping me escape. And also rush hour. (I'm still in-training though. I have to keep working!!)_

           

> _Yaku-san got a fever today because of me. He looked awful... I'm going to ask around for his address. I'm gonna write a letter to tell him I'm sorry._

 

> _YAKU-SAN'S BACK!!! AND GUESS WHAT!?!? He said that he thought I was good with customers and I AM!!! Gotta work harder!!_

 

> _I only broke TWO plates today! ONLY TWO!! Can you believe that!? Yaku-san still yelled at me though... Don't worry, Yaku-san!! I'm not going to break ANY plates tomorrow, just you wait!_

 

> _Yaku-san's been praising me a lot lately. It makes me happy when he does that. I think he does it because he knows it makes me smile. I think I may_   _ ~~love~~_   _like Yaku-san._

 

> _I had to ask Kuroo-san for advice!! So embarrassing!! But he told me I had to be more assertive with my feelings (even though everyone knows he's been flirting with Kenma-san for over a year now)... AAAAAAAAAA I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN DO IT!!!_

 

> _YAKU-SAN KEEPS STARING AT ME!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!! AAAAAAAA FOCUS ON SOMETHING ELSE, ME!!_

 

> _Yaku-san patted me on the head for doing a good job today. It made me so happy. If I asked, would he give me a kiss as well? I wish he would. I like him so much that I don't even know what to do anymore._

Yaku stared wide-eyed at the last entry. It had been written only twenty minutes ago, according to the time and date written on the page.

Yaku looked at Lev; he was still sleeping soundly, breathing softly, eyelashes long, lips out in a small pout.

He looked at him closer, and saw a small mole at the corner of his right eye. Yaku had never seen that before. Maybe it only appeared when Lev closed his eyes, when Lev was asleep, when Lev was at total peace.

Yaku felt something swelling up inside of him, and his face burned, the realization that  _Lev liked him back_  hitting him like a ton of bricks Lev probably toppled over.

"Goddammit, Lev," Yaku grumbled, eyes furrowed in flustered frustration. "You don't need to ask."

And he leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, face burning even hotter than before.

There was a bit of shuffling at his back and when Yaku turned, he saw the entirety of Wagnaria crowded up behind him, all with matching amused smiles. Yaku made sure to take note on how Kuroo's hand was on the small of Kenma's back.

But before that he shot up from his chair and—

"Out!  _Out!"_ he ordered, and yep, his face was definitely an obvious shade of red right then. "Get back to work!"

"But the restaurant doesn't open in another thirty minutes," said Fukunaga.

" _OUT!"_ he yelled even louder, and everyone scrambled to get back to their respective areas of work, though not without some poorly-stifled giggling.

Yaku stood there with his entire body a furnace, had a brief existential crisis when he realized that  _Fukunaga just spoke out loud for the first time_ , and then turned back to Lev.

 _How is he still asleep?_ Yaku thought, walking back to him. He sighed; this day would either become the best or worst memory of the future Yaku's life, but even so, the present Yaku knew that he was never going to forget it. (And neither would his coworkers, for that matter.)

Ten minutes later, there came a loud crash and a yelp from a voice that could only belong to Lev, and Yaku smiled to himself in the other room because, well, he only had himself to blame for that.

> _Yaku-san patted me on the head for doing a good job today. It made me so happy. If I asked, would he give me a kiss as well? I wish he would. I like him so much that I don't even know what to do anymore._
> 
>  
> 
> _You'll get it on our first date, don't you worry. -Yaku_

 

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: there was supposed to be an emoji of a cat next to lev's signature but for some reason ao3 wouldn't post the rest of the fic post-cat-emoji and gODDAMMIT AO3 LET ME HAVE MY CAT EMOJI
> 
> fun fact #2: i am aware that a cat is different from a lion 
> 
> fun fact #3: the pick-up line the flirty customer pulled on lev is actually a reference from somewhere ~~where are my filipino peeps at~~
> 
> Edit (04/08/17): wahhhhhh 100 kudos!!!!! And almost a thousand notes!!! I'm not crying!!!!!


End file.
